Eternal
by Blazin-coconut
Summary: This is the story of the four who stood against Fate and the price they paid to save their world.
1. Ethereal

Well, welcome to my first fanfiction on anything. It is somewhat based upon the Sonic SatAM/Archie Comic Universe. So...enjoy.

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**Ethereal **

Time thrashed throughout his thoughts like a hurricane. Ripping and tearing his memories asunder, thus effectively destroying who he was. His remaining ideals echoed around in his mind like marbles in a some crudely made ceramic jar, hard enough to cause a subtle pain that fluttered throughout his skull, but not hard enough to break their container. He lay there not knowing what to do next. In fact the only thing he knew, was that he was hurt...badly. Slowly he turned his head to get a better view of his surroundings, only to gaze upon what was left of a bone jutting out from the gaping hole in his leg. He groaned. Pain seeped throughout his entirety. It was all happening again. **_It_** had broken his promise to him. He laughed, a course sounding horror that seemed to have a life of its own as it oozed throughout the forest causing the local fauna to shrink into their homes for some relief against the horrid entity, nature itself recoiled from it.

"Finally!" The youngish' multi-tailed fox grunted as the engine of an old TL-80a carrier jet started up. The gentle roar and "clinking" of metallic parts was almost soothing compared to the last fifteen hours that Tails had spent in almost absolute silence. "Sheesh, that took forever." He stated as he wiped the last droplets of sweat from his forehead. Tails had been working on the jet for almost two months now and all it needed now was some minor adjustments to the wings and a fresh coat of paint (Tails wasn't to fond of the military issue black and red paint that streaked across the fuselage of the plane.) In fact Tails wasn't fond of a lot of the things that existed in reality nowadays. Things had been..."better", back when it was just him, Sonic, Sally, Bunnie, and the other Freedom Fighters, back when they were fighting against Robotnik for the sake of a better world. In the thirteen years though since their victory, things had changed...drastically. Nothing was the same anymore. Nothing would ever be the same again.

"Miles!" Yelled a voice from behind. In his current reminiscent state of thoughts, Tails had been unaware of the blue hedgehog that had walked in his workshop. "Miles!" The hedgehog yelled again, this time causing Tails to jump in turn slamming his muzzle on the side of the engine compartment.

"Dammi...oh...hey Sonic." Tails grumbled as he slowly got down from the wing of the jet. Sonic grinned as he watched the fox rub the bump on his nose.

"I see you got that old Junker up and running." Sonic stated as he pointed to the stuttering jet.

"Yeah...what's your point?" Interrogated Tails.

"Nothing really, people have just been wondering where you were, I mean you didn't even show up at the Council meeting yesterday."

"Well, I was busy."

"You could have at least shown up, I mean..."

"Listen! You know that I don't give a crap about your 'Council' So stop giving me shit about me not being there!"

Sonic gave a brief smile, shook his head slightly and exited the workshop. Tails sighed. "Damn hedgehog," He muttered to himself. Things had changed...things had changed a lot.

Some called it The Great War others called it the War against Robotnik. It was called many things, but it all meant one thing: They had won. Everyone was happy at that point, celebrations echoed long into the crisp Mobian nights. People were happy, times were good, and if the Moon could have smiled during those times...it would have. Nothing lasts forever.

Tails was walking throughout the Great Forest, it was his way of gazing upon what hadn't changed since his return to Knothole, and he could still see some of the trees on which he had carved things. An Elk, and on that one, a sword. He smiled as he brushed his hand over the deep and intricate wounds he had etched into these trees as a child. Tails walked over to one of the larger trees in his general area. He ripped off a piece of bark exposing an old rusty piece of metal. He turned it counterclockwise for one full revolution. Several loud popping noises could be heard and a couple of seconds later, there was a "shunk" as a chunk of the tree slid into the ground. Tails walked into the tree and the door replaced itself. Tails let out a sigh; this was his old fort. He couldn't even count how many times he had come in here back when...when things were different.

Tails started climbing a ladder that jutted out from side of the hollow tree, Tails knew where it led. Eventually the top of his head hit something; he smiled as he pushed the trapdoor up. He climbed out onto the platform that existed in the uppermost part of this tree, his tree, Sonic's tree, Sally's tree, _and their_ tree. Tails sat down and gazed out upon Mobius. Somewhere down there was a blue hedgehog, one that was once his friend, one that had had left him. Tails put his face into his hands...things had changed.

She now understood what the two-tailed fox had once told her. 'What was his name, Ben? Chase? Tai?' Of course, she no longer remembered it. It had been drowned by other memories. The name had evaporated from her subconscious like some puddle in a field of gossamer. She still remembered what the fox told her though. "Something isn't right." He had told her before...before what? She could no longer remember. Her eyelids fluttered as she hit the ground. She lay there, dazed and confused. How long had it been? Hours? Days? Time seemed to slip by her like a butterfly caressed by a gentle summer breeze. She smiled, time moved on. She slept upon an ethereal ocean.

"There you are!" Tails jumped as the voice brought him out of his slumber. He quickly spun around and yanked his pistol out of its holster. (You had to always be prepared for anything, Sonic had once told him that, a long time ago.) As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he gazed upon the figure in front of him, laughed and put his pistol away. The pink hedgehog gave Tails a glare that could curdle milk. "Where the _hell_ have you been for the past four days?" Amy yelled at the fox.

"What do you mean _four_ days!?" Tails asked quizzically.

"Exactly what I said, Shevat has been bugging everyone!" Amy barked.

'Had it really been four days?' Tails thought to himself. He hadn't even remembered falling asleep.

Tails started walking towards the ladder when Amy slapped him in the ears. They both laughed. Tails sighed, 'She still treats me like a kid.' he thought. Amy sighed and shook her head.

"So where've you been Tails?" Amy asked as they walked back towards Knothole.

"I...don't...know."

"What do you mean?"

Amy stopped. "It's happening again isn't it?"

"...I'm not sure."

"But I thought..."

"We _all_ thought they were gone."

"I'm... I'm sorry." Amy said slowly tilting her face towards the ground.

"Don't be." Replied a sullen Tails.

"Yeah, well...They were supposed to be gone!"

They continued their trek home in silence.

In fact, the distortions in time were back. Tails had noticed them after he had finished working on the jet. Sonic had come in to tell that he had missed the council meeting. Tails never went to those "Damn Crappers" anyway so he didn't give Sonic's statement a second thought until around an hour later when he remembered that there wasn't supposed to be a meeting for another two days. Tails was confused at first, but his childhood memories came back to him. Whole months of his life stolen from him. He had been ostracized from society. People stayed away from him, when he walked throughout Knothole people ran inside their houses. He had been emotionally killed for harboring a "disorder" that he couldn't control. The only people who treated him as "Tails" and not "Freak" or "Ragshit" (The most common of his nicknames.) Were Amy, Rotor, Antoine, and Sally before she...evaporated. Even Sonic, his former friend steered clear of him. He was scared; Time laughed at the cursed one. Tails shuddered.

Shevat, a thirteen year old brown fox, waited patiently in her teacher's office waiting for the results of last week's test. She on a large foam block, (chairs had been banned from the school ever since Jersey, a twelve year old German Shepard, had had her head smashed in with a chair in by a disturbed youth named Devere.) unaware of the horrors that lurked beyond the imaginary door that hid underneath her teacher's shadow. "Shevat Prower" entered a voice from reality...'Prower,' Shevat rather liked her adopted father's sur-name. 'Prower' she liked the way the sound lingered in her mouth like the aftertaste of a sweet fruit. "Shevat Prower." The voice was louder this time. She swayed gently between the stars; she bathed in their light. They showed her the way to the gate. "_Shevat Prower_!"

"Wha? Huh? Oh." Shevat blushed, (having your teacher catch you daydreaming wasn't the best thing in the world.)

"_A_hem."

"Oh, er, hello Mrs. Harris."

"Shevat I think you know why you are here."

"You wanted to talk to me about my test score?"

"Your rather disappointing test score I might add. Shevat, what happened? You usually do so well."

"I haven't been feeling well."

"Well you should have said something."

"Yeah...."

"Shevat there's something your not telling me. Now tell me, what's wrong? "

"Um..."

"She_vat_, do we have to bring Miles into this."

"No!...Don't do that...I've been having...nightmares...bad ones."

"Nightmares?"

"...Yeah."

"Hmm," Mrs. Harris smirked, "tell me about them."

"What?"

"Explain your nightmares to me dear."

"Well, I'm in a forest and I'm running."

"Why are you running?"

"I'm scared, something is chasing me."

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Go on then."

"Well, the trees keep on moving, as if they are trying to block my path. I can hear the roar of the thing chasing me. Suddenly I fall down, I can hear the bones in my leg snap. Everything goes silent. I can't move. Something is pulling me backwards. I start crying. A twig snaps. Suddenly everything fades away...I am in a dark room. A door appears...I die."

"Is that all?" asked Mrs. Harris, seemingly disappointed.

"Yes, I...I think so." Shevat stuttered as she started shaking.

"Are you sure!?" Mrs. Harris blurted.

"Y...Y...Yes..." Shevat was shaking violently now.

"DAMN CHILD!" Mrs. Harris shrieked.

"Why are y...you ye...yelling at me?"

"DIE YOU GODDAMNED FOX! DIE LIKE THE ONE BEFORE YOU!" Shevat's teacher was screaming now.

Shevat was in a corner trying to hide from her frenzied teacher. Then she heard the laugh. It was horrible. It reeked of sorrow, despair, love, and hate. It flooded her mind. Shevat wanted to cry, but **_It_** wouldn't let her. She tried to block the sound out, but **_It_** wouldn't let her. **_It _**enjoyed watching her suffer.

"FALLEN ONE, MEET THE FACE OF THE ONE WHO STOOD AGAINST ME!" Shevat's teacher was laughing hysterically now.

Shevat watched in horror as her teacher reached into her desk and pulled out a mesh of broken bones and tan fur. Blood dripped from what looked like half of a jaw.

Shevat screamed, 'It can't be.' She thought. 'NO!' It was too late, she could hear the voice that had jaggedly etched itself into her mind. "Who's laughing now bitch!" Devere. She could see him laughing, standing over her best friends broken body, chair in hand, blood dripping from the legs. She could see Jersey laying on the floor. Blood oozing from what was left of her face.

"NO!" Shevat screamed as she dug her claws into her hands.

Everything faded into dust and she drifted away upon the breeze of a derelict world.

"_Shevat!" _There were some loud popping noises as Shevat silently slipped back into life. Her eyelids opened slowly, her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpoints as light poured onto them, her azure eyes sparked like diamonds. Her tongue tasted the blood that lingered in her mouth. She felt as if she had been hit the back of her head with a hammer. "Shevat!?"

"Ta_ils_..."

"Shh." replied the fox, his fur stained with blood.

"How many of them are left?" replied an obviously scared Amy.

"I don't know, maybe twelve." whispered Tails.

"Shit...."

The metallic footsteps were getting closer.

They had been ambushed by the Sentinels, a mysterious race of cyborgs that had appeared in Mobius a few months after Robotnik's demise. Some believed that they were an alien race, others believed that they were the incomplete version of Robotnik's last line of soldiers. Tails believed in the latter version...he had reason to. The Sentinels attacked villages without warning, killing all in their path; their souls were stained with the blood of the innocent. They had ambushed Tails and Amy around five minutes after they had left Tail's fort. Amy had managed to shoot one in the eye before a metal claw had sliced into her upper right arm. Effectively rendering her gun arm useless. Tails had first put a hole through one of the Sentinel's torsos with his sidearm. He quickly spun around with blinding agility and blasted a hole through another one's metallic skull. He caught a glipse of Amy driving a kick into the nearest cyborg's crotch. It went down quickly making strange gurgling noises. Tail's chuckled, 'They still were _part _Mobian.'

Tails blinked, one-twentieth of a second, the time it took to put another hole through a Sentinels face. "Blam!" Another bullet, another hole.

Tails suddenly found himself lifted in the air and thrown against a tree. He had just enough time to look at jagged cut along his chest and duck before a laser cut a swath in the tree where his neck used to be. "Shit!" Tails yelled. In less time then it takes for someone to say "Hi," Tails had ejected the empty clip from his gun, slammed in a new one, and blasted a hole the size of a soccer ball through the chest of an armless cyborg that was advancing upon Amy's wounded form. "Blam!" Another bullet another hole.

"Gahh!" Amy screamed as a laser streamed mere centimeters above her head, singeing some of her hair.

'Whaaathroom!' Tails was using explosive bullets now. All that remained of a Sentinel that was standing mere inches in front of her, were a few metal plates. Amy managed to hit one in the leg (she was using her left arm now which drastically reduced her aim.) She fired again, this time the bullet smashed through the wounded cyborg's head, blowing metal and brain matter in all directions. Amy could see that Tail's movements were slowing, she could see that his fur was stained with blood. Amy cringed as Tails took a blaster shot through his left side. Amy carefully took aim and fired at another Sentinel and fired. She smiled when she saw that it no longer had half of its face. Amy winced when the tree behind her suddenly exploded in a torrent of splinters and wet moss.

"Dammit all to hell! Tails, lets get out of here!" Amy screamed as a laser took off the tip of one of her ears.

"Whaaathroom!" Another bullet another pile of smoldering metal and flesh. Tails turned toward Amy and nodded. He whipped out a grenade and chucked it towards the remaining group of Sentinels.

"RUN!" Tails yelled as he started charging into the forest.

Amy quickly followed suite.

"WhaaiiiBOOOM!"

Tails fumbled around on his belt, looking for another clip, he didn't find one. They had been hiding in an alcove for the past twenty minutes, tending their wounds. Amy had made a makeshift wrap for her arm and was just beginning to patch up her ear. Tails was in...less satisfactory condition. He had a two-foot long gash that streaked across his chest and a blaster hole that drove straight through the left side of his body. Amy looked at the wounded fox and frowned.

"Tails, you going to be ok?"

"Yeah." He grunted.

"Well, looks like your going to need surgery." Amy whispered at she stuffed Tail's laser wound with a type of cotton.

The metallic footsteps were getting closer.

**_It_** was watching.

Time was watching.

The two wounded Mobians fates were sealed; their demise was lurking over the horizon.

The metallic footsteps were getting closer.

"Shevat!"

She awoke.

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So ends Chapter One. If your confused on issues such as: Tail's "hatred" of Sonic, Tails being "faster than average fox," those strange interludes in which either "he" or "she" are described, who the heck **_It_** is, or any other confusing matters...Don't worry, as they should all be explained as the story progresses. Oh and don't forget to post a review...please?


	2. Beyond

It took longer than expected (school issues), but without further adoo, here is chapter two

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**Beyond**

"Captain! Incoming Devari assault craft thirty-two by sixty-four degrees off the starboard hull. Sir, it's and attack squadron!"

"Dammit!...Greva how long until engine shakedown is complete?

"One minute Sir...wait...power supply drained! Engines are offline!"

"What?!"

"Power levels at fifty percent and falling...sir, it's...."

_No, that is not for you to know._

"...Greva, prep missile tubes one through twenty and fifty-five through eighty."

"Missile pods prepped."

"Engage Grav-Field generators."

"...Done."

The captain watched as ten small spacecraft emerged from small ripples in space. He sighed as he propped a small golden trinket on the palm of his hand, he pushed the sides of the object and it opened revealing a picture of a small fox. "Goodbye...Shevat." He closed the trinket slowly. He sighed, 'Unload missile tubes' he said with a disturbingly cool calmness. Hundreds of small 'pops' could be heard as the missiles screamed towards their targets. More spaceships appeared out of the nothingness that was slipspace. Their metal surfaces gleaming in the wake of a large star. The missile tubes were empty. The reserve cannons flourished in the graveyard of metal and debris.

A ship, like a human can only take so much. After years of abuse and repair, the ship began scream under the stress of the firefight. At first, cracks appeared along the hull. Then the ship started to split apart, gapping holes filled with jagged teeth.

The captain closed his eyes. He smiled. This was it. Everything faded into the ashes of Time. We all watched from beyond our thoughts. This was it; the ship disappeared into the darkness.

----

"Shevat!"

She awoke.

Her mind exploded with pain.

She screamed and fell to the ground clutching the sides of her skull. It was as if she was being ripped apart.

He fluttered to the ground, gun in hand.

Shevat screamed.

He landed with the grace and agility of an acrobat, then fired his gun again.

The bullet tore through Shevat's left arm in a slurry of pain.

Shevat screamed again.

"Defiler."

----

"WaaaaaTHROOM!"

The explosion rocketed Tails through the air. Dirt and grass clogged his eyesight.

"Amy!" He yelled into the darkness whilst more dirt rained upon his battered form.

No reply.

A metal blade dug into his arm. He yelled then smashed his unseen opponent into the hellish maelstrom. He dug what was left of the dirt from his eyes and looked around. What remained of his and Amy's sanctuary was a measly pile of boulders. He turned around and slammed his claws through a metal skull. The Sentinel fell to ground emitting distorted vocals on how to cook chicken. Tails grabbed another by the arm and slammed it into a tree. He ripped off the blaster section of the recently diseased cyborg and used it to blow another into oblivion.

It was all over in ten seconds.

Silence.

Tails looked around. A burning landscape greeted his gaze. The crackling of dry leaves tempted his ears as he slowly walked towards what once was a luscious green forest. He stared in awe as the Great Forest burned.

----

What happened here....

Do you see it now....

Yes....

He has awakened....

They must not be revived....

Terris....

Flaw....

----

The fire burned with an intensity unlike any force the fox had ever seen before. He walked into the shrouds of fire; they parted, bowing towards his presence. He knew this would happen. _Why? _It had happened before. _When? _He was the catalyst, he had done this. _No! _Yes...I remember....The fox fell towards the ground screaming, his tails twitching as his past shattered.

----

"Sonic!" Tails cried. He was cold, he was wet, he was scared. How long had it been since the explosion in Robotropolis? _Two days. _He shivered, a puddle of dew had begun to form on the ground next to him. _Your tears_. He had to get up, he had to move. _No! Sonic said to stay right here, he said he'd be bac_k. **_Its been to long_**. "Sonic!" He yelled again. Only darkness replied to his call. He shivered. His mind began to succumb to the powder of a Mobian Winter.

Snowflakes danced upon the foxes muzzle before melting into a crystalline pool of shimmering water. He unconsciously twitched as one of them drifted into his nose. A lone figure clad in a black cloak stumbled across the dying child. He gasped as he noticed the young foxes slow arrhythmic breathing. He snatched the young fox up into the folds of his draping cloak and scurried off to the bounds of his village.

----

Dreams.

Patterns in ones thoughts.

Floating around in an ocean of your own memories.

Some of those memories are blocked by a wall.

What if you never even existed until today?

What if all of your thoughts, memories, and experiences were lived by someone else?

What if who _you _are isn't really who**_ you _**are?

What if you were trapped within yourself gazing through your own eyes, but not being able to control them?

Fate is a fickle mistress isn't she?

----

Den gazed upon the sleeping fox, his breathing had stabilized, he was no longer on the verge of dying. It had been five days since he had brought the fox to Algomare, A quiet fishing town on the west coast of Delore, the largest continent on Mobius.

"How is he?" asked Den's wife Sara.

"'Ell, he's no longa knock'n 'n deaths door." replied Den in his peculiar accent, "Eets all op to 'im now."

Sara sniffed sadly. (They had lost their own child last year to a freak accident.) She hoped the young fox would pull through.

----

They were staring at him.

"Hello...Miles." One of them stated.

"Can he even here you?" Another.

"I'm not quite sure, but look at his eyes!" The first.

"Why are they glowing like that?"

"Must be a faulty gene."

"You really need to test those things out...but that would explain why he looks like a fox."

"Yes, that was quite an interesting side effect, that and his two tails."

"It's a pity when things turn out this way, have you chosen a disposal site?"

"Th...ol...em."

Their voices were fading will die quickly."

He slept for an eternity.

----

He awoke with a jolt.

It was dark, moonlight filtered in through the windows. Tails's eyes flickered. The warm night air smoothed his frightened expressions. He got out of the bed and started walking towards what appeared to be a door. The creaking of the wooden floor as he lightly crept across it was painfully reminiscent of his remaining memories. _A_ _library, a fireplace, long drawn out winter days spent sleeping on warm wooden floors._ The thought stuck him like lightning, where was he? This place, these smells, they weren't familiar. "S...Sonic." Tails whispered. _Who's Sonic?_ The thought lingered on his mind. Who was Sonic? Why had he uttered the name. He knew not the answers to his own thoughts. The young fox stumbled on the leg of a chair, let out a yelp, and slammed head first into the floor. Lights blazed into existence. Footsteps could be heard rushing towards him. Tails tried to role into a corner, but the gaze of two middle aged mice caught him. Tails propped himself into the shadows, his eyes darting frantically from object to object, looked for a plausible escape route.

"Looks 'ike the young'ns up eh Sara." Chuckled the mouse closest to him

"Yes, now are you all right?" The other asked the scared fox.

"Umm..." Tails's eyes were still darting around the room.

"Oh look now Den, You scared the poor thing to death." Tails noticed that "Sara" emphasized this last word strangely.

"Oh 'ome now, 'was just 'avin a lit'tle fun wit' him." Den replied.

Tails had never heard this accent anywhere before...nor had anyone outside of Algomare.

"Just calm down dear." Sara reached out a hand to Tails.

Tails looked at Den with what seemed to be a perplexed expression.

"Where do you come from?" Tails asked

Den stopped, "me?" he replied obviously confused.

"Yes, your accent...its different."

"'Ell, I would 'ope so."

"What do you mean?"

The mouse smiled, revealing a warm bed of white teeth. Tails knew that he would not get the answer he sought.

"We had quite a scare with you, when Den brought you here. I thought you were dead, but it seems you've got more than luck in those bones of yours." Sara said to Tails.

"Umm...sorry for the trouble mam." Tails replied trying to remember the formal attributes of language.

"No apology needed dear, but what were you doing on the edges of the Great Forest in the dead of winter."

Tails thought for a moment, but the answers to his thoughts still eluded him.

"I...don't know." Was the only response that he could muster.

Sara sighed and went to the kitchen. Tails sat down on a big couch that resided in the front of the living room. Den pulled up a chair and sat down with a "plumph." The lights overhead flickered rabidly.

Tail's mind drifted. He no longer knew who he was or where he came from, he was at that point in his existence, a shell. The Arbiter had left his body. "Miles" wouldn't exist for another two years now. He had left only a scared fox in his departure.

Sara came back into the room carrying a tray brimmed with various morsels of food and drink. The tray clanked as she sat upon the couch next to the sleeping fox. "How's he doing?" She asked Den.

"Thins probably still tired." He mused.

Sara sat the metallic tray upon a table. "Poor thing."

Outside it started to snow.

----

Miles awoke. The ashes greeted his eyes. He stood up, causing a cloud of gray to follow. The ashes swirled around him like angry wasps. The fire still raged. Golden wisps reached up to the sky, consuming all that they touched. He watched as what had once been his home burned. Why? He didn't want this.

The fire faded away into the darkened sky. Miles watched in amazement as burnt trees regained their healthy greens, he watched as the ashes around him melted into the dirt. He watched as the dying forest regained its former self.

"What the...." Miles whispered. The chirping of a small bird was the reply. Just twenty seconds ago the Great Forest was a burning wasteland, now it was the thriving, lush landscape that it had always been.

"Miles Prower!" The voice echoed out of the trees.

Miles turned around with a jolt. "Amy?"

The snapping of twigs followed by the introduction of the Pink hedgehog into the sunlight startled the fox. Amy was...different. Her hair flowed behind her, moving freely in the wind. She wore two cracked leather gloves along with a black full body outfit with the letters N.M.P. engraved on it. Lastly, in her hands, was a type of gun that Miles had never seen before.

The hedgehog stopped. "How do you...." She shook her head quickly and leveled the gun at Tails.

"Amy?"

She fired.

Things had changed...again.

----

The cool sound of flowing water awoke Shevat. She was laying on a dirt mat. She sat up, her upper arm was heavily bandaged. Shevat tried to sit up, but a sudden flare of pain from her forehead halted that action. She groaned.

"You shouldn't move for awhile, Hect ruffled you up quite a bit."

Shevat turned her head slowy, trying to numb the pain in her arm and forehead, only to she a pair of sapphire boots standing about three feet away from her. The person with the sapphire boots kneeled on the ground revealing the face of a gray wolf, a jagged scar screamed down her right cheek. She smiled. "You should probably rest for a while. Looks like your gonna need it."

Shevat tried to smile, but the pain retured violently and she groaned again. Light faded away into the darkness.

The wolf watched as Shevat slept. A large panther walked into the hut.

"How is she?"

"She was awake earlier...Hect, you nearly killed her." The wolf in sapphire boots said as she pointed to the bandage on Shevat's forehead.

"Well, what did you expect, a hug, a kiss?" Hect smirked.

"No..just..."

Hect handled an axe that resided in his belt. He brung the axe up to shoulder height and slowly dragged the blade against the side of the wolf's face. The edge licked the damaged flesh. Hect shouldered the axe and left the hut. The wolf touched her scar, she shuddered.


	3. Chaos

**Chaos**

The smell of mildew and rusted steel emanated from his surroundings. Miles stood up, water dripped from his body. He shook himself dry.

His cell had to be about six feet across. He stretched his aching joints only to feel the rancid slime that covered the walls. His only light source was a small hole in the upper corner of his "residence." It had been about a week since he had woken up in this place. His last memory was that of Amy leveling some sort of blaster at him. Mile's only acquaintances were the screams of his fellow prisoners that flew throughout the empty halls like bullets. Miles had no clue why he was here, or in any case why Amy had shot him. Every time he breathed, it felt as if his lungs had been gouged out with a shard of glass. Yet he felt somehow...calm. Nothing seemed to startle him. This place seemed as if he had been in here a long time ago. He smiled.

Time passed. Miles could only judge it by the fading and reappearing light that flickered down into his cell. His whole body ached from the lack of nutrients, and the only water that was available to him was the water that dripped from the ceiling. It tasted slightly of blood.

Living itself became somewhat of a hardship for the fox. The pain in his chest had only increased in magnitude. Life became somewhat of a blur; Miles could no longer differentiate between reality and dreams. His cell door opened.

"Here he is." A voice

"Bring him out." Another.

Miles tried to look at the source of these new sounds. His body failed to comply with his mind. The last thing he felt was a pair of hands gripping his arm. Miles faded back into the dreams.

----

It had been one year since Den had brought the dying fox to his village. Tails had recovered completely and had grown quite fond of his adopted parents and they, of him. Den and Sara soon found out that Tails had a knack for fixing and building things. It was this mysterious knowledge of technology that helped out many of the residents of Algomare. The small fishing village began to flourish as new machines eased the strain of life upon the backs of the Mobains. People had become quite fond of the two-tailed fox. Time moved swiftly, yet there were days when time seemed to slow to a halt. Breezy ones spent lying in the fields, looking up at the clouds. Trying to remember forgotten memories.

Tails awoke to the glare of the sun through the windows. He shielded his eyes and got out of bed. Light danced vibrantly around his room off of they various metal parts that were strewn about the floor. Tails put on his favorite casual wear, a faded, green shirt, a black vest, and some blue jeans. It was probably around seven-thirty in the morning. Tails walked out of the door and onto the small dirt road that led to his workshop, he looked at his watch, he still had forty-five minutes. A rooster crowed in the distance. The large wooden doors creaked open. Light flooded into the dark room, illuminating all that lived there. Metal eyes gleamed in the sunlight. Tails walked into his workshop. The eyes drew back into the darkness. Tails flipped on the lights and walked into the center of what was once an abandoned warehouse...and there it was, his latest creation...it would be done soon. Tails smiled. The metal eyes watched.

The wooden doors closed, Tails walked along another dirt path that led to his school. He looked at his watch. He still had forty-five minutes.

"Huh?" Tails stopped abruptly. He looked at his watch; the hands had stopped moving. The sight of alone fox glaring at his watch must have been amusing to any onlookers.

"Gah!" Tails yelled as he sped off down the dirt path, cursing at his broken watch.

----

"Gerard what did you do to him!?" Someone yelled. The taste of metal lurked in Mile's mouth.

"I locked him up. Just like you said...Major." Yet another voice. This one older and more seasoned then the first. Mile's visage was that of darkness.

"...In D-block Gerard. I told you to put him in a cell, not _kill_ him."

"The bastards a murderer. He deserved what he got."

"Yet you disobeyed a direct order in giving him_ 'what he deserved.'"_

_"So what are you going to do about it...Major."_

There was a loud snap followed by a "click."

"How does a bullet through your eye sound?"

"...."

"Oh is the wittle puppy scared now?"

"...Uh...."

Blam! The sudden eruption of sound was followed by screams filled with pain.

"Sheesh, it's only your hand, Stop being such a baby. Oh, and Gerard, next time I won't miss."

The voices were replaced by footsteps. Miles could here a door open.

"How is he?"

"Just give him time and he should be fine."

"When he comes to, let me know."

"Yes Major."

The door closed. Miles slowly withdrew from the darkness. Coaxed by the pain of reality, he awoke. He found himself lying on some sort of steel bed. He sat up, the pain in his chest flared. Miles gasped.

"Easy there big fella, you've been through a lot these past couple of days." Miles turned around to see an echidna staring at some charts.

"Where am I?" Miles asked her.

"The Andvari Medical Complex." She stated without looking up.

The doctor walked over to a black box on the wall and pressed a button.

"Miss Rose, he's awake."

The doctor walked over to a small screen next to Miles, wrote something down on a sheet of paper and left the room. Miles tried to get up, but his insides disagreed with this motion and forced him to keel over in a new onslaught of pain. Miles groaned and rolled over onto his back. 'The Andvari Medical Complex.' The doctor's words. Miles had never heard of such a place. Where was he? 'Miss Rose...' Amy? Miles could only hope that the answers would come to him. The door opened again. The pink hedgehog that Miles once considered as a friend walked in escorted by two heavily armed guards.

"Amy?" Miles blurted.

Again the hedgehog stopped.

She turned towards the guards and told them to wait outside.

"Major?"

"It's ok, if he tries anything; you'll be the ones to clean up what's left of his brains from the walls."

The guards abruptly left the room.

"Ok fox, first things first, how the hell do you now my name?" Amy asked.

"What do you mean?" Miles replied.

Amy deftly grabbed Miles by his throat and tossed him across the room. Miles yelled as he struck the floor, gasping for the air that had suddenly been ejected from his body.

"Answer the question."

"Amy...what happened to you?" Miles gasped

Amy un-holstered her pistol and leveled it at the foxes head.

"Answer the question."

"Don't you remember, Knuckles, Sally...Sonic."

These last words seemed to strike a nerve, as Amy's stern expression melted into that of a scared child's.

"What...how do you...?" She whispered.

"What?"

Amy holstered her gun and left the room. Her exit was followed by the return of the two guards. One of them raised his firearm and smashed the butt of it into Mile's forehead. Darkness.

----

Amy slowly started walking back towards her quarters. The lights overhead flickered. She walked into an empty elevator, pressed a few buttons, and sank to the floor in dismay. _How did the fox know about Sonic? How did he know my name? How can he know these things? Sonic...how?_ The hedgehog started crying. The elevator stopped, and the door opened. Amy got up wiped the tears from her face with a brisk motion and stormed out the doors. She hastily walked down the hallway until she reached a door with the number "98" over it.

"Home sweet home." Amy muttered pessimistically.

She unlocked the door, opened it and stepped inside. She ran to her bed. The tears returned. The years of pain she had suffered through came pouring out. _How does he know these things?_ The tears seeped into her bed.

----

Miles awoke to the sound of maniacal laughter. He sat up and felt his head. A large lump had taken residence there. Miles got up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He was in another cell, this one more vibrant though. Light flooded in through the bars. His cell was bigger. He had enough room to actually stretch. The pain in his chest still lingered and he found it hard to move quickly. Still the question lingered, _Where was he?_ And _what had happened to him?_

_"Hey, look the fox is up." The voice came from behind Miles. _

Miles slowly turned around to gaze upon the speaker, a gruff looking tiger.

"Name's Redge, yours?

"Uh...Miles"

Redge whistled.

"So you're the one that killed that guy in Seaport."

"Huh?"

"Still denying it eh?"

"I don't understand, your saying that I killed someone?"

"Well yeah, they were hunting you for three days, it was all over the news, but it looks like The Major got you."

"I still don't...wait! The Major, that's...."

A guard stopped outside of the cell.

"Hey! Quiet down!"

"Ah, shove it will ya." Redge replied

The guard pulled out some sort of remote and pointed it at Redge. The tiger suddenly fell to the floor twitching in agony.

The guard turned, grinned, and then pointed the device at Miles. It felt as if something exploded inside of his head, He dropped to ground.

----

Shevat walked outside of the small hut. The sun beamed down on the baked earth. It appeared as if she was in the middle of a desert. She looked around, there had to be about fifty huts in the general area. Embers still glowed brightly in what seemed to be a giant pit in the center of the conglomeration of huts. She walked over to the remnants of the fire and sat down. Later on, she would ponder why she did this, or to the matter of fact, why didn't she try to escape. The crunching of hardened sand signaled Shevat to the wolf that was walking towards her.

"Well, look whose up." The wolf laughed

Shevat turned around wearily. "Yeah." She muttered.

The wolf sat down. "You all right?"

"I guess, it's just...where am I?"

"Well, we're not quite sure ourselves, but we believe that we are somewhere around the Shien Flatlands. Oh, sorry about Hect, he thought that you were one of the renegades from the Shava. "

"...It's fine really." Again, Shevat had no clue in why she said this; the words had just seemed...right, but strangely, Shevat felt as if she was among old friends.

"So you're Nomads?" Shevat asked.

"I guess you could call us something like that."

Shevat had heard of two warring nomadic tribes in the books back in school. There was once a dispute among issues that had long been forgotten, they had been fighting ever since. The largest, and most predominant tribe, was called the "Shava," while the smaller, more reclusive one was called the "Oura." Neither tribe had gained any foothold in the generations of war, yet they still continued fighting, blinded by the dull perception of the honor and glory that had been drowned in the blood of its victims.

"So why did you bring me here?"

"You'll have to ask Hect that, he brought you back."

The wolf got up.

"By the way, my name's Shiva." She said as stirred up some of the embers with a large branch.

"Shevat."

Shiva turned around and stated walking away. She grinned, 'Hect was right, the war would be over soon.'

Shevat stared in to the glowing pieces of timber.

----

A week had passed since Miles had been moved to his new cell. He had never seen, nor heard of Redge since the incident with the guard. Miles had learned why Redge had called him a murderer. Apparently, "he" had killed a rich citizen in the wealthier part of "Andvari," called Seaport and had escaped the city, "he" had then been captured by Amy, or as she was known by most of the populous, "The Major." Her title had been applied to her not only for her position in the New Mobian Police Force, (NMP) but for her harsh brutality in dealing with her victims. On one such occasion, she had broken a citizen's arm in six places for sneering at her. On the battlefield, 'The Major" was a tactical genius, and much of the NMP's success had been because of her. The only thing that remained hidden about "The Major," was her past. She was an enigma...and a deadly one at that. Lastly, Miles had learned that the "Mobius" he was in now, was vastly different then the one he had grown up in. There had been no Robotnik or no Freedom fighters. There had been no "Great War," Nothing remained of the world he once called home, except for...her. Why was Amy here, and what happened to her? These new facts dumbfounded Miles.

Life in the prison was an interesting addition to Mile's unanswered problems. Some feeling told him that he had to escape, that he didn't belong here, that he had to get back home. Home, where was that? Mobius? Miles for once in his life could no longer make sense out of reality.

----

Amy walked out of one of the resort complexes located on a large island due south of Andvari. She had been ordered to bring in the self-named "Guardian" of the island. Apparently it had been attacking tourists on some of the new resorts there.

Amy watched as the helicopter disappeared into the clouds. She drew her SR-385 assault riffle from its lodging on her back, loaded a fresh clip, and flicked off the safety. She walked into the dense forest surrounding the resort, the hunt had begun.

----

The Oura camp was now thriving with activity. Multitudes of the nomads were now crowding around the rekindled fire. Shevat still sat on the ground, watching the flames dance in the brisk morning air. After some time, Shiva came back and beckoned Shevat to follow her. They began walking towards a large building near the edge of the camp, one of the relics left by an ancient civilization.

"Go inside." An order.

An impending sense of dread drew over Shevat as she was shoved into the dimly lit corridors. The door shut behind her. She was scared, she was trapped.

_"Shevat."_

Something called out to her. A part of her wanted to follow the enticing voice, a part of wanted to flee from it. The voice called out to her again.

"_Shevat."_

She was walking down endless hallways guided by her unconsciousness. She was no longer in control of her own body. _It _was guiding her. She followed the voice into the depths of the earth.

----

The Arbiters, one being to the embodiment of Fate, while another sits in a cell, waiting for time to stop. Two others wait for their resurrection to comence. History shall repeat itself once more. The war for the Eternal awaits.


End file.
